7/25/12

The first time I ate tacos de rajas, it was at the famous
little taco shack La Super Rica in Santa Barbara. I didn’t know exactly what
I’d ordered until I took a bite and discovered a very flavorful, almost
homogenous mixture of roasted peppers, onions, cream, and cheese. (I know, I had you at homogenous, but I think that detail is
important—it was like the four separate elements had become one!) Point being,
it was a new taco option for this little gringo, and I was into it.

But when I came across a recipe for them a few months ago
and read that the first step involved either grilling or broiling two pounds of
peppers, I put it off. I’ve only broiled
but once or twice, and we simply do not have a grill (yet). Therefore, grilling
and broiling are culinary turn-offs.

*

As much as I love our new house and neighborhood, and had
been looking forward to creating new habits here, the change has reminded me of
how much I struggle with, well, change.
The truth is that I’ve found myself secretly pining over my old yoga and
cycling studio, my old Trader Joe’s, my previous proximity to Whole Foods and
Runyon Canyon—specifically, the combo of hiking Runyon and then going to Whole
Foods at off-peak hours—etc. And so, I’ve been having to psych myself up,
telling myself that the only way I’m going to find new places I like is by
trying out new places I might like, i.e. Griffith Park and Cookbook (both of
which, though not yet quite familiar to me, are pretty sweet places to live near). Similarly, the only way I’m going to be able to make tacos de rajas in the
comfort of my own home is to get to know my broiler.

So, I bought two pounds of poblano peppers and dug out the
oven’s instruction manual, which quite plainly told me to “turn the knob to broil.” Wait a second. There’s no special broiler
compartment? And if that’s the case, shouldn’t I move one of the oven racks or
something? And what was the deal with that one part I read, below the directions, about “Electric
ignition” and opening the oven door? This manual couldn’t be trusted. So, I
Googled “Bertazzoni oven how to use the broiler.” The exact same thing that I’d
just read in the manual came up. So, I called Matt at work.

“It’s not like our
old oven,” he said. “You just turn the knob to broil.”

“Are
you sure? Because I read something in the manual about having to keep the oven
door open for electric ignition…”

“I
gotta go. Bye!”

And
that’s when I thought of my friend,
gracefully frying squash blossoms.

Last week, I went to a friend’s house for a dinner party. It
was a bit of a potluck gathering, and so, when I walked into the kitchen, I
found one of the other dinner guests, my friend Stephanie, standing over a pot
of hot oil, casually deep-frying ricotta-stuffed squash blossoms until they
were golden and perfect. Her little daughter was running around, from kitchen
to living room and back again, directly below all of the hot-oil action. This was
right after my big shishito nightmare, and my reaction to someone else’s
version of deep-frying was quite visceral. It was like a slap-on-the-forehead
revelation: life doesn’t have to be
stressful! We don’t have to
approach tasks—be it deep-frying or moving house—with anxiety and fear!

So, I made the decision to stop stressing and start placing
the peppers on a rimmed baking sheet, which I then put on the middle rack in
the oven, before finally turning the knob to broil.

And guess what? No one died. Here I am, alive and typing the true story of using the broiler function
of my new oven. The peppers blistered and popped, just like they were supposed
to. I even managed to pull the sheet from the oven and rotate the peppers so
that all sides could get a nice char.

When they were finished, I steamed them in a covered bowl before
momentarily worrying over how to approach the next step: peeling off the skin
of the peppers. Poblanos are a much milder pepper than jalapenos, which I once
seeded barehanded only to spend the rest of the night dangling my fingers in cold water. But, in the interest of choosing not to be stressed, I dove in with bare hands and hoped
for the best.

And it worked. My fingers survived with just the mildest
sensation of burning! (That sentence doesn't make it sound like a success story, does it?) Next time, I would only alter one thing: to be more
careful to fully remove all of the seeds from the peppers. After I skinned
them, I was a little lazy with the seeding process, which resulted in a much
spicier rajas than I’d anticipated. Fortunately, I was able to
counterbalance the heat quite nicely via an extra dose of shredded cheddar and some
guacamole. A cold beer didn’t hurt either.

Speaking of beer, let’s have a cheers, eh? To recreating
tacos de rajas, to not choosing and/or
creating stress, and while we’re at it, to my dear friends Connor and Sonya
whose wedding I attended this past weekend during which my pal, Mary Anne, Bon
Appétempted an outfit from 2007! Pretty nice work, wouldn’t you say?

Salud!
p.s. Third green-centric post in a row! How long can I possibly keep this up?
p.p.s. The Olympics start this weekend! (My head may explode with excitement!)

Tim! I don't know jack about labelling of pasillas vs poblanos in the midwest vs west, but i do know that El Barco Mariscos on Ashland has THE BEST pasilla salsa. I tried to drink it. Then I bought some dried pasillas in a Mexican grocery and tried to bon appetempt it at home. But I need recipes and I had no recipe. Epic fail.

Anyhoo, dont really know the point of my comment but i do like pasillas and i do like reusing outfits!!!!!!

I've had those Super Rica treats and they are amazing. Equally amazing is making a bridesmaid dress work again. I've done it, but not in awhile. Cheers to both! (I know the dress dedux wasn't you but still, it takes gobs of creativity and a little gall, just like this whole blog of yours). xx

Oh man I loved this post! I don't know if I'll have the opportunity to make this recipe any time soon - I'll see about getting my hands on that many pablanos - but your writing made me smile a lot. Thank you.

you are so good with all things peppery. you are always using peppers. WHY?? Why are you so good with peppers?? I stay away from hot peppers at all costs. It's a flaw. I want to come to your new house so bad. Hi!!!

I seriously, seriously, thought it was impossible to ever wear a bridesmaid dress again. (I have never been a bridesmaid, though, so never had the chance to test said theory.) I am VERY impressed with this Mary Anne. She seems like a good friend to have.

Deep-frying and broiling. I share those fears too. Especially because I have a crazy and old gas stove/oven, where I'm terrified the open flame will some how cause terrible things to happen. But I'm working on overcoming my fears in the kitchen, so your posts are always an inspiration. And they're fantastic - I love your writing. Congrats on defeating broiling!

I, too, fear the broiler. I luckily have a grill to enable my broiler fear. Our apartment oven had a separate broiler bottom drawer and in our home, we have an older oven with broil on the dial. Suspicious!

My favorite salad is a pound red peppers and a pound a tomatoes. They all get broiled to an oblivion, peeled, and reduced in a saucepan. Like peel-and-eat shrimp, it's a pain in the ass well worth the effort.

Hello, Its the first time ever I visit your blog, and I love that you haver this recipie here.

I´m mexican, living in México and everything, and for us rajas are something very common, specially in my family.

The easiest way to make the is to put the peppers on top of the stove, you dont need anything, maybe a comal if you have one, but if you dont just put the peppers on top and turn it on. Nothing happens, and its way faster.

The above was set out, however, before my big culinary change of heart, as documented here. And while we're on the subject of pivotal moments... there have been a few over the (6) years, like this one and this one and, of course, this one AND now this one!